ElderWeb

The Senior Worker Advocate Office, formerly known as the California Task Force for Employment of Older Workers, has pledged to improve employment and training opportunities for senior workers forty and over and to raise public awareness of the issues and problems that confront senior workers. The office works directly with the public and the private sector to afford all senior workers in California access to employment-related resources.

The Web site include information for both employers and senior workers about rights and responsibilities, benefits, training, and job search.

A study published in the Journal of Gerontology by William T. Gallo of the Yale University School of Public Health reports that negative mental and physical health effects of involuntary job loss are significant for older workers. The researchers noted that workers in the United States save heavily in the years preceding retirement, often relying primarily on personal savings amassed in this period to finance the costs of retirement. Because of that, late-stage job loss has important consequences for the well-being of dislocated U.S. workers. Further supporting their findings, the study indicated that re-employment of the displaced workers was associated with improvements in both physical functioning and mental health.

Green Thumb, Inc., the country's oldest and largest provider of mature-worker training and employment, today launched its third-annual national Prime Time Awards search for the oldest worker in the United States. The inaugural Prime Time Awards recipient is 104-year-old Milton Ward Garland of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. A refrigeration pioneer and engineer who holds 41 U.S. patents, Mr. Garland still goes everyday to his office at the Frick Company, the same firm to which he has reported for work since 1920.

To be recognized as America's Oldest Worker, an individual must work at least 20 hours per week in paid employment, and must be willing to attend Prime Time activities during the first week in October 2000, in Washington, DC.

Almost everyone making grandfather clocks at the Kuempel Chime Clock Works and Studio Inc. is a grandfather himself. Kuempel is an Excelsior, Minnesota firm where the average employee age is 72 1/2. Since 1916 the firm has hired older workers, nearly all retired, to handcraft their timepieces. "They're reliable, like clockwork," says John Swon, 58 the firm's CEO. "It's a great use of a tremendous resource. I think we give people a real reason to get up in the morning, to get excited about what they do, to interact with people, to work on something that means something."

Kuempel sells ready-to-assemble kits and hand-crafted clocks that range from wall clocks for $995 to $7,000 grandfather clocks. They report that sales have increased dramatically since the company's Web site was launched 4 1/2 years ago.

Schedules are flexible and the older staff works an average of about 20 hours a week, and can go home any time after about 3 p.m. to catch an early bird dinner, go fishing, or visit with friends and family. The older, part time, workers are supervised by 40 year old full time employees, providing an interesting variation on the usual dynamic where older workers supervise younger ones.

The United States Committee of the United Nations International Year of Older Persons recently recognized Green Thumb, Inc. '“ Texas Program with one if its National Awards for Excellence in Aging Programs. The "Got/IT!" Information Technology Training Program in Austin, a partnership with Green Thumb, Microsoft and ExecuTrain was launched to provide technology training to older workers for IT careers. The project had its challenges, since there were diverse skills sets and a wide spectrum of exposure to technology among the students. Age was never an issue. Diane Cowan, Green Thumb regional director, said that the students' unusual level of dedication was a key factor in their success.